U.S. Strike in Yemen Kills Dozens in Qaeda Affiliate, Officials Say

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/us/politics/yemen-al-qaeda-us-strike.html

Version 0 of 1.

WASHINGTON — An American airstrike on Tuesday killed dozens of fighters at a mountainous training camp used by the Yemeni affiliate of Al Qaeda, Pentagon officials said, the latest sign that the military is hastening its strikes against militants in the Middle East and Africa.

The attack followed an airstrike this month on a training camp in Somalia that killed about 150 militants from the Islamist group the Shabab. They were believed to have assembled for a graduation ceremony.

In the Yemen strike, officials said more than 70 fighters from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the affiliate is known, had been using the camp.

“We continue to assess the results of the operation, but our initial assessment is that dozens of A.Q.A.P. fighters have been removed from the battlefield,” Peter Cook, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement. “This strike deals a blow to A.Q.A.P.’s ability to use Yemen as a base for attacks that threaten U.S. persons, and it demonstrates our commitment to defeating Al Qaeda and denying it safe haven.”

The strike occurred in the midst of a Saudi-led military campaign against Houthi rebels, who have received some backing from Iran. The United States has supported the Saudi campaign with intelligence assistance, midair refueling and other logistical support. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has exploited the conflict by taking over significant parts of southern Yemen.

American counterterrorism officials have said that while the Islamic State poses a threat to the United States, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is probably more capable of carrying out a complex terrorist attack, like bringing down an airliner.

The United States has struck the group many times in recent years. In 2011, Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric who had become a Qaeda leader in Yemen, was killed in an airstrike there.